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Review: Heineken draft keg

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sun Feb 3 04:26:37 2008

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We had company over here to celebrate the night of "Groundhog day" along with some movies and of course beer along with "scare the woodchuck back into its hole" festivities. We provided the usual bottles of Saranac ale, Pilsen Urquell and a new treat for the night, Heineken out of that keg advertised on the talking lamp with "robot girl" since a number of folks were curious about it, including myself.

I was never terribly fond of Heineken since it tended to give me a headache the day after, and tasted more bitter than I thought it should as a brewer. But we expected only two folks to come up tonight, and so expected to have "leftovers" and nothing sucks more than flat beer. So in addition to the usual bottled in our bar, went for one of these out of sheer curiosity.

The keg contains 5 liters of beer and an ingenious CO2 "recharger" module inside to ensure that the beer stays "fresh" for up to 30 days. We used to have a "brewmaster" system which failed about 5 years ago and that used nitrogen to keep the half-keg inside pressurized at all times. I'm not too keen on a CO2-based keg releasing "greenhouse gases" as beer does that on its own, and thus this kegger won't be a regular here aside from the curiosity that made us buy one.

Normally, when we buy "mini-kegs," we do so because we anticipate a crowd, and normal "mini-kegs" take a tap on the bottom and are "gravity-fed" where you open an air inlet at the top. For REALLY big events, we'll rent a keg with a pump top but still, you have air replacing the volume of beer and if it isn't all finished up the night of the par-tay, you have some seriously flat (and likely spoiled BAD) beer the next day. We expected this to be leftover though surprisingly it was all consumed. 5 liters is about 14-18 12 oz (US) glasses of beer and since this particular Heineken actually tasted much BETTER than the usual bottled swill, went fast. So we'll try this again some time and see if it actually KEEPS for 30 days. Heh.

One problem with our little keggie though is that it DRIPS when you've drawn your glass of mostly suds. And it tends to drip generously about one drop of beer every 3-5 seconds out of the spout. NOT good. And more drips out the tap side of it onto the top of the can. Paper towels or dish towels recommended. I'm going to HOPE that our keg wasn't the norm, but a good amount of beer went to waste as a result of the dripping. We eventually figured out it was a good idea to leave a "drip glass" under the spout. :(

Once our guests were gone though, realized that if you put your lips over the end of the spout and sucked out all the beer, drippage was then minimal but this is RATHER unsanitary for a party given the NY TIMES article the other day on "double-dipping" chips. Heh. But THAT worked!

As shown in the drawing to the right though, it appears that you really *DO* have to ensure that the spout is lined up perfectly with the tip of the red star on the can. In THAT position, dripped the least, but it still dripped.

Verdict: Heineken in THIS KEG tastes a WHOLE lot better than the usual Heineken in a bottle. And it doesn't cost more than a couple of pence more than bottles and tastes a LOT better. Downside is that because it contains a CO2 bottle inside the keg, it's an environmental LOSER ... but since it's Stupid bowl day, IF you're going to kill it during the game, if you can sequester your beer burps and beer farts, then it might be carbon neutral. Drink up, shriners! Heh.

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Re: Review: Heineken draft keg

Posted by Karl B on Sun Feb 3 17:55:27 2008, in response to Review: Heineken draft keg, posted by SelkirkTMO on Sun Feb 3 04:26:37 2008.

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With Heineken touting this Keg the way they do, you ought to report the bad tap to them.

You might receive some goodwill coupons or maybe even a replacement keg.

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Re: Review: Heineken draft keg

Posted by Olog-hai on Sun Feb 3 18:09:57 2008, in response to Review: Heineken draft keg, posted by SelkirkTMO on Sun Feb 3 04:26:37 2008.

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The keg contains 5 liters of beer and an ingenious CO2 "recharger" module inside to ensure that the beer stays "fresh" for up to 30 days. We used to have a "brewmaster" system which failed about 5 years ago and that used nitrogen to keep the half-keg inside pressurized at all times. I'm not too keen on a CO2-based keg releasing "greenhouse gases" as beer does that on its own

More beer, less politics.

Ever read this . . . ?

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Re: Review: Heineken draft keg

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sun Feb 3 21:07:17 2008, in response to Re: Review: Heineken draft keg, posted by Olog-hai on Sun Feb 3 18:09:57 2008.

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All them numbers give me gas. :)

Still willing to reduce the amount of CO2 released if it helps. As to the water vapor issue, it's not much of an issue below 0 celsius.

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Re: Review: Heineken draft keg

Posted by Clayton on Mon Feb 4 16:00:42 2008, in response to Review: Heineken draft keg, posted by SelkirkTMO on Sun Feb 3 04:26:37 2008.

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The draft keg is delicious I must say, but in my experience, the freshness faded after a few days. Though it was basically empty after a few days, a small tear fell from my eye when I tasted the half of a cup that was left after finding out it basically flat.

Anyways, here is my Heineken/NYCTA shrine.

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